US network drops blogger after Steve Jobs death tweet

US network CBS News has dropped a celebrity blogger whose website reported that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs had died.

Mere hours after a false report on Friday claimed the demise of Jobs, CBS News cut its ties with What’s Trending, the website that issued the tweet, and the blogger who produced it, Shira Lazar (28).

What’s Trending is a web series independently produced by Disrupt Group and anchored by its co-founder Lazar. CBSNews.com had been hosting the series since May.

CBS executives also emphasised What’s Trending had no news-gathering partnership with CBS News.

Some news organisations had attributed the unchecked Jobs tweet to CBS.

The network’s executives even informed CBS Interactive to remove from CBSNews.com all material related to Lazar and What’s Trending, the Hollywood Reporter reported.

The Jobs tweet was quickly removed once it was posted, but not before being widely retweeted.

While it’s unclear who actually wrote the tweet, Lazar responded: "Apologies – reports of Steve Job’s death completely unconfirmed. Live on." She also issued a second apology from her personal Twitter account. "On behalf of all of us at @disruptgroup we sincerely apologize for the inaccuracy of what was tweeted earlier today. – EP/Host @WhatsTrending."